And, why did I post it? The day before, I had shared the recent article about JF in which there is the short story and photo of an 82-year-old doing an assisted drop-back. The Gentle Yoga class I was teaching seemed impressed and there were expressions of "not me", "not in this lifetime", like that. I told them my story about being in a workshop and being selected for a dropback demo (just one guy - JF - doing it) because I was / am stiffer than most in the room.
At the time of this photo, pushing up to urdhva dhanurasana (wheel) was not in my repertoire of poses. Not even sure I could easily get to the top of my head; I could do a 'killer' bridge pose, however. That's why I look so happy in the photo -- I had never viewed a room from this perspective.
I was not lying when I mentioned serendipity yesterday. As I edited yesterday's post, I was looking for a feature in the editing bar and clicked on the photo icon. Up came 3 photos in the box alongside the post; one of them was this. Wow, talk about a coincidence! Therefore, I just had to post it. A great memory. (FYI, if you told me to go to my photo file and find the photo I published, it might take me many minutes and be filled with frustration; so, having it pop up like that was truly amazing.)
Yesterday went much as planned. I taught at 9 am -- enough people in the room to video (Hooray!). I am not sure about the video, tho -- why? From the first lunge, things were different. Students were stepping back further, their back legs were straighter, their front knee was bent to 90 degrees, they were on their fingertips -- in other words, as close to perfect as I've seen -- and everyone was doing it! From that moment on, I was in a sort of marvel-state. Poses unfolded as I tried to remember things like:
- Go back to the theme (tho, I did do it on occasion)
- Touch on the 5 alignment principles in 50% of the poses (I tried)
- Use creative, dynamic language (I tried, but - to tell the truth - this class brought me close to tears of appreciation)
- Demo using your heart quality / theme (I can't remember if I even thought about it -- will have to go check)
- I had a plan written out, but I'm pretty sure if I go re-read it, I didn't stick with it (not sure that that's such a big deal, so long as the class moves along appropriately for the apex pose - which I believe it did)
- Etc., etc., etc.
There is the possibility that I taught a class that resonated with what was going on in their lives, and that was the catalyst for the poses offered. Whatever. I couldn't have been happier. If this video goes anywhere, I'm sure the smiles on my face will be as big as the one in the urdhva picture.
So, what about today?
- Would love to attend Sheldon's class at 8 am at The Yoga Center; got to see what Howard has planned.
- Some laundry, some more housework, some leaves to rake and dispose of
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